New Hampshire Moves Primary Up a Week

New Hampshire set off another scramble to the front of the election calendar Tuesday by moving its first-in-the-nation primary to Feb. 1, a week earlier than expected.

But the surprise action immediately triggered a series of interstate negotiations that left the ultimate schedule for selecting next year’s presidential nominees far from certain.

Iowa, host of the nation’s first presidential caucus, launched a new round of discussions Tuesday about moving its event forward since it is now set for Jan. 31, one day before New Hampshire’s primary.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said he decided to move his state’s primary after Delaware Republicans moved their Feb. 15 primary to Feb. 8.

The New Hampshire primary has traditionally been held in mid-February, eight days after Iowa’s caucuses.

Party officials in Iowa said Tuesday that they will lobby officials in New Hampshire and Delaware to return their contests to Feb. 8 and Feb. 15, respectively, as previously scheduled.

Iowa’s parties decided little more than a week ago to move the state’s caucuses from Feb. 7 to Jan. 31. Setting the contests even earlier would be a “logistical setback,” said Dee Stewart, executive director of the Iowa Republican Party. Still, GOP and Democratic officials huddled Tuesday to discuss that possibility if New Hampshire stands firm.

Stewart called the primary scheduling a “fluid situation.”

“I think it’s important for Iowa to be first, and certainly in an ideal circumstance it would nice to have a week between us and New Hampshire,” Stewart said. “It would be in everyone’s best interest for New Hampshire to go on the 8th.”

Delaware’s GOP chairman, Basil Battaglia, said it would be tough to persuade Republicans to push their primary back. He said Feb. 8 offers “better advantages” than the 15th, including better locations for polling. He denied the state was making the move to gain more attention in the nominating process.

“We’re not looking for any glory,” Battaglia said. “We just want to do a primary, a presidential primary. We’re not out there to block anybody. . . . We have no desire to be in front of New Hampshire in any way, shape or form.”

Delaware’s Democrats plan to hold their primary four days after New Hampshire’s, but both Vice President Al Gore and former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley have pledged to ignore that contest.

California’s Legislature has set the state’s primary for March 7 and is unlikely to move it.